Unique in approach, this practical introduction to statistical inference 1) uses only college algebra, 2) gets into inference within the first 10 pages using popular examples that students encounter every day in newspapers and on television, and 3) emphasizes and covers statistical inference for population proportions in much greater depth than other texts at this level. It features an abundance of examples, problems, and clear computational procedures, and provides a brief introduction to Minitab - with sample data, (on disk) commands, macros (on disk), and printed output. *Uses only college algebra throughout. *Delays coverage of the mean and normal distribution until Chs. 5 and 6, respectively, and focuses first on the basic ideas of statistical inference. *Introduces statistical inference using a proportion - a simple, easily-understood concept that students will see in newspapers, magazines, and on television almost every week. *Features examples, problems, and exercises that do not require a knowledge of any special discipline and that use data based on 'real appearing' studies. *Contains a short introduction to the computing package Minitab (in an appendix), and, throughout